Indonesia and China killed the nickel market

The mantra? Our fossil-fueled based transportation system needs to be 100% electrified, and the switch must be made from oil, gas, and coal-powered power plants to those which run on solar, wind and nuclear energy. If we have any hope of cleaning up the planet, before the point of no return, a massive decarbonization needs to take place.

Done improperly, mineral extraction has the potential to damage local communities and ecosystems, destroying cultures and biodiversity in the process. And China has been a very willing player having invested heavily in Indonesia, building smelters and using their technology to produce battery-grade nickel cheaply, though at a horrendous cost to the environment.

Nickel laterite deposits — the principal ore minerals are nickeliferous limonite O and garnierite — are formed from the weathering of ultramafic rocks and are usually operated as open pit mines. There is no simple separation technique for nickel laterites. The rock must be completely molten or dissolved to enable nickel extraction.

Counter-current decantation is used to separate the solids and liquids. Separating and purifying the nickel/cobalt solution is done by solvent extraction and electrowinning. Traditionally, processing nickel laterite deposits was more expensive than sulfides, but China has changed the game. As Bloomberg reported recently,

Its Obi Island operation is one of three producing HPAL operations, with nearly $20 billion of further projects announced. Bloomberg says Harita presses the water out of its waste slurry then stacks the dry soil in former mine sites , but there’s not enough space. The company proposes building a tailings dam but that comes with its own set of problems, including leakage.

“The exponential growth in this Sino-Indonesian trade reflects the continuing boom in Indonesian production that followed the country’s ban on exports of unprocessed ore,” writes Reuters metals columnist Andy Home. Indonesia recently warned struggling producers not to expect any meaningful price revival. The government official overseeing the nickel boom prices are unlikely to rise above $18,000 a tonne, and that the country will ensure the market remains well supplied to keep costs lower for electric-vehicle manufacturers.

The Inflation Reduction Act aims to grant incentives to companies that source their battery materials within the US and outside of China.

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